Quickie Vibrant Easter Eggs

If what you want are quick colored eggs, in under 60 minutes, I can help with that. You can also do this with the kids, but what I have here is vibrant eggs of solid color, fast. You can adapt this to suit your family as you see fit. :D 

Put raw eggs into pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, start timer for 20 minutes. Boil the whole time.

While the eggs are boiling...

In a 1/2 gallon pitcher, combine 3/4 cup white vinegar and fill the pitcher to the 2 quart mark with luke warm water. 

Take large soup bowls or large glasses (nothing that will absorb the color!) and add a good toothpick full of Wilton Cake Decorating food color or about 1/3 to 1/2 bottle of food color liquid. I don't mean those little droppers bottles, I mean the 1 oz. bottles of food color. I used 5 colors, blue, red, yellow, green and violet. In each bowl, mix just enough of the vinegar water to make sure the food color is mixed in and not lumpy. Then pour enough water to make about one inch of liquid. 

When egg timer goes off after 20 minutes, remove each egg with a slotted spoon and carefully lower into food dye bowls. DO NOT dye broken eggs. After you have all the hot eggs into the food color bowls, add enough of the vinegar water to raise liquid level to about covering eggs, if you can. A little less is no big deal, just turn the eggs every couple of minutes. 

5 minutes, maybe ten and your eggs are done. With your slotted spoon, remove each egg and lay gently onto a folded paper towel, on a plate. Each color on a separate plate, while they are wet. The paper toweling will allow excess liquid to drain and since the eggs are still hot, they will dry in a minute or two.

Once they are dry, return to egg cartons and store in fridge. I did all of these in under one hour, including clean up. 

A quick trick with the kids is letting them draw designs with crayons on the eggs before dying. But they are hot eggs, so maybe an adult should hold the egg. 

This method can be used with cold, boiled eggs too. It's just not as quick.

P.S. Any residue color can be removed by a quick swish in bleachy water. Don't use plastic bowls, they'll not recover well from the vibrant dyes. 



Aren't they beautiful?



See the pitcher of water. It's 3/4 cup white vinegar and the rest warm water.



Stir them around a little, turning them over every minute or two. The longer they sit, the brighter they get.



Remove the dyed eggs to paper toweling to dry. Only takes a minute or two. Remember, they are hot yet.



Back into their carton. They are dry to the touch, no dye on my hands! Into the fridge they go! Who gets to hide the eggs? Peter Cottontail! :)

Flounder 'a la Meuniere with Capers

Much simpler than it sounds. 

Flounder Fillets
milk to dip
flour to dip
one stick butter
1/3 cup capers
lime juice
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In a small pan, melt butter and add capers, cooking over medium heat. The butter will need to brown and the capers will pop open. I always start this first. 

Dip fish fillets in milk, then flour, and pan fry in hot oil until nicely browned.

To serve, sprinkle fish with lime juice and spoon over a bit of the caper and butter sauce. 

I usually serve this with broccoli, as I like the caper butter on the broccoli as well. :)

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You'll note in my photos that I actually tried Panko bread crumbs this time. Panko crumbs always give a nice crunchy coating. Not sure if it really adds anything to this recipe. Nice way to get those Omega 3's



Flounder Fillets



If you can't find flounder, aim for a nice thin white fish. Thicker fish doesn't suit this recipe.



For dipping, I have flour, egg and Panko Crumbs. I would suggest just sticking to the milk and flour. The Panko did not improve the crispiness of this recipe.



Butter, lime and capers for the sauce.



Melt butter and capers in a small pan to begin. It takes a while to brown. Don't have heat up too high. You might burn the butter. You want brown, not burned.



Flour the fillets I suggest just dipping in milk and then flour. No other coating is necessary.



Egg wash



Panko



Place in pan with hot oil.



Butter is bubbling nicely.



In case you've not tried them, these are the Panko Crumbs.



Butter still bubbling, not done yet.



The butter is starting to brown.



Capers are starting to pop. They will pop when they are done. They get crispy then. :) Don't let it burn. You want brown butter, not burnt butter and capers. 



Do you see how the butter has browned?



Maybe it's easier to see here. Remove from heat.



On the plate, sprinkle fillets with lime juice.



Spoon caper butter sauce over the top.



Dinner is served.



One last thing... Cooking fish can stink up the house for days. Put on a small pan with water and cinnamon. Simmer it slowly and the cinnamon will counteract the fish smell in the house.

Basil Chicken

This is a simple CrockPot meal. Go away and come home to a hot delicious meal. No fuss, no muss. It's very flexible. Add more chicken as you need to, no need to add other extra ingredients. 

Chicken, I used two packages of boneless, skinless thighs from Costco, about 10 thighs
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 to 1 green pepper, sliced

Optional: Carrots, onions, mushrooms, other veggies you like

Serve over hot noodles or rice
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Evenly space chicken into bottom of crockpot. Sprinkle with pepper and basil, massage into chicken. Spread can of soup directly onto the chicken, I use my hand. Don't cut yourself on the can. Arrange green pepper on top of chicken. Cover and cook 6-8 or more hours on low. This meal will wait for you if you're late. Not to worry. 


Chicken and carrots in crockpot. Herbs to massage into chicken.



Spread cream of celery soup over the top. Don't like that flavor? Use cream of chicken, or asparagus, or broccoli. :)



All pretty on top. Time to wash my hands. Needless to say, you ALWAYS wash your hands before you start to cook. Honestly, I must wash my hands a dozen times while I prepare meals. No tool is as versatile as your hands. Just keep them clean. Basic rules; never touch anything raw and then touch anything cooked. NEVER cross contaminate. Better to wash too often than not enough.



Spread a layer of green pepper over the top. Want pretty? Use half red and half green. Have you ever seen the purple peppers in the store? Nice if you are making a raw veggie platter. But they turn green when cooked. :( Cover and cook all day.



Just got home after a long day of school and soccer. Dinner is ready to eat.



Yum! All we need now is some hot bread to sop up the gravy. David got home and asked Jonathan "What's 4 Dinner?" I don't know he said, but it sure is YUMMY! LOL! So, David scoops out a huge bowl. "Yeah, this is great Mom. So, what is it?" Basil Chicken, Honey... Gotta love the kids!

Stir-Fry Pork with Red and Green Peppers

2 lb. pork loin, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
6 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Teaspoon cornstarch
1 Teaspoon crushed red pepper or to taste
2 Teaspoon sugar
2 Tablespoon Dry Sherry Wine
1 large green pepper
1 large red bell pepper
2-3 green onions, sliced, optional

1.5 cup uncooked rice or
Ramen Noodles ready to cook
(I made two packages of Ramen for three people. My hungry teenager asked for more. You might want to make one packet for each person if they have adult appetites.)

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Toss pork cubes with soy, cornstarch and red pepper. While that is marinading, thinly slice up your peppers and start your rice. If you are using Ramen noodles, you can wait till the last minute to cook them, just have the water hot and ready to go. 

When everything is ready to go and rice is done, cook pork. It will only take 10 minutes!

Heat oil in large frying pan or wok. Add pork. Stir-fry till done. Add peppers slices and sugar, stirring another few minutes until tender crisp. Add sherry, cook 30 seconds and serve over hot rice. 

Couldn't be simpler! And OH-SO tender! 

Enjoy! 
--Marie

I trim the excess fat off the pork loin before cubing it up.

Cut slices, then strips, then cubes.

The soy sauce, crushed red pepper and the cornstarch. Mix well.

Add pork cubes to marinade.

Bell peppers and green onions ready to go into the pan.

Just for kicks, I'm making potstickers on the side. These are Ling Ling brand, from Costco (freezer).

Steam with lid on until water is nearly gone, then remove lid to brown.

Potstickers are almost done, time to start the pork. Once the heat of the pan is easily felt by the back of your hand, the pan is ready. It may look like I'm touching this pan, but I am surely not. My fingers are about an inch above the surface of the hot pan, with oil.

Pour pork and liquids in all at once.

It should start cooking as soon as it hits the pan. Stir,stir, stir.

The potstickers need turning. About now, I'm wishing I had one more set of arms. 

But, I'm good. I can DO this! LOL!

The pork is about done, add the peppers, with sugar on top.

And the green onions.

The veggies in the pot just need to soften and cook to tender-crisp. Time to get those Ramen noodles into the boiling water. Once they are done, just drain and stir in a touch of cooking oil to keep them from becoming a gelatinous ball of wiggly goo. Do not add the flavoring packet.

Veggies are almost there, add the sherry. From here, it's about one minute to done. You don't want to overcook, just boil off the alcohol.

Done... Enjoy!

The Ramen Noodle is a nice change of pace from rice every once in a while.